Sports

Absurd own goals this weekend in European football

Weekend’s football in Europe saw two moments of embarrassment – one for Manchester City women’s goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck and for Stuttgart keep Ron-Rober Zieler – that resulted in own goals. In the Women’s Super League game, Manchester City player Abbie McManus had the misfortune of adding an own goal to her record and was left visibly upset in so doing.

VAR in spotlight again this time for not working in France

The video assistant referee system has been much talked about since being used at the World Cup earlier this year – praised by some for spotting fouls, criticized by others for slowing down matches. On Sunday, VAR attracted attention for another reason altogether: it stopped working during the 1-1 draw between Rennes and Toulouse.

Genoa’s Piatek off to best Serie A debut in 70 years

Krzysztof Piatek is off to the best start for a Serie A debutante in nearly 70 years. The 23-year-old Poland striker scored both of Genoa’s goals in a 2-1 win over Frosinone on Sunday to raise his tally to eight in six matches. The last player to achieve the feat was Karl Aage Hansen with Atalanta in 1949-50. Overall this season, Piatek has scored 12 goals in all competitions – including his four-goal performance in the Italian Cup in August.

LeBron James captivates crowd in his Los Angeles Lakers debut

LeBron James rubbed his hands in chalk powder at the scorer’s table, yelled “Yes!” to ecstatic fans in the first few rows and the Los Angeles Lakers’ new era was underway. Playing in the same arena where Magic Johnson made his regular-season debut for Los Angeles 39 years ago, James captivated the crowd from the start of the Lakers’ exhibition opener Sunday night, a 124-107 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

Brooks Koepka shaken after bloodying fan’s head with tee shot

Brooks Koepka found no reason to be intimidated by playing in the Ryder Cup because golf isn’t a contact sport. But it became one under the worst circumstances. And it shook him up. Koepka’s wild tee shot on the par-4 sixth hole struck a woman in the gallery and bloodied her head. He said he checked on her condition after his round and had not heard any update from Ryder Cup officials.

INDIA- Sunil Gavaskar advices MS Dhoni to play domestic cricket to get back in form

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's poor form has become a matter of concern for the Indian team as the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman is yet to find his Midas touch this year. In the 2018 Indian Premier League, Dhoni had a good run as he played a few crucial innings for Chennai Super Kings in their winning campaign. However, following the IPL title triumph, Dhoni has struggled to impress much with the willow.

Argentina’s interim coach Lionel Scaloni kept his promise to leave star forward Lionel Messi out of friendly matches against Iraq and Brazil next month. Prolific Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero and Paris Saint-Germain winger Angel Di Maria were also rested for the matches in Saudi Arabia, with Scaloni keen to test new players. Argentina faces Iraq on October 11 and Brazil five days later.

India retain title beat Bangladesh in last ball thriller

India beat Bangladesh by three wickets with no balls to spare to win the 2018 Asia Cup. In what turned out to be a riveting final, India’s win was orchestrated by some gritty batting from the lower middle order. Defending a target of 223, Bangladesh managed to get rid of Shikhar Dhawan and Ambati Rayudu early in the innings. They then dismissed Rohit Sharma just as the Indian captain started looking dangerous.

Give Lionel Messi time to decide on Argentina future

Former Argentina forward Javier Saviola said Lionel Messi should not be hauled up for their World Cup exit and given ample time to decide on his international career. “We all know Argentina didn’t perform as expected in the last World Cup. But I think we should just let Messi be. Just let him relax. He will need time to decide whether he wants to play with Argentina,” said Saviola on Thursday.

Harmanpreet Kaur to lead India in Women’s World T20 tournament

The BCCI’s All-India Women Selection Committee on Thursday announced the squad for the upcoming Women’s World T20 tournament 2018. The committee picked Harmanpreet Kaur as the captain of the side, while Smriti Mandhana was selected as the vice-captain. Mithali Raj and Jemimah Rodrigues, who were excellent in the recently concluded 5 T20I series against Sri Lanka, also made it into the 15-member squad.